WeCARE Ltd

Updated 1 September 2023

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Inspection team

The inspection was carried out by 1 inspector.

Service and service type

This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own homes.

Registered Manager

This provider is required to have a registered manager to oversee the delivery of regulated activities at this location. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered managers and providers are legally responsible for how the service is run, for the quality and safety of the care provided and compliance with regulations.

At the time of our inspection there was not a registered manager in post. The service was being supported by a registered manager from another location. The registered managers position had been recruited to and a new manager was due to commence the day after our inspection.

Notice of inspection

We gave the service 72 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or manager would be in the office to support the inspection.

Inspection activity started on 29 June 2023 and ended on 11 July 2023. We visited the location’s office on 4 July 2023.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return (PIR). This is information providers are required to send us annually with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with the provider, manager and 3 care staff. We spoke with 1 person using the service and 3 relatives about their experiences of the care and support provided. We looked at 3 staff records in relation to recruitment, training, supervision, 3 peoples support plans and medication records and a variety of records relating to the quality assurance and management of the service.

Following the inspection to the domiciliary care office, we continued to seek clarification from the manager to validate evidence found.

Updated 1 September 2023

About the service

WeCare Limited is a domiciliary care agency providing the regulated activity of personal care to people. The service provides support to older people and younger adults. At the time of our inspection there were 7 people using the service.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

The service is registered to be at the address Office 205, Business & Technology Centre

Shire Hill, Saffron Walden, CB11 3AQ. Information we received prior to the inspection informed us the service had moved to Waterloo House High Street, Newport, Saffron Walden, Essex, England, CB11 3PG. This location is not part of the provider’s condition of registration. We are therefore considering our next enforcement action for this different location. Our inspection occurred at this Waterloo House High Street address, to ensure people were being supported safely.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

The provider's governance arrangements did not provide assurance the service was well led. We were not assured the systems and processes to oversee the quality assurance of the service were robust and effective, as they had not identified the shortfalls we found during our inspection and regulatory requirements were not always being met.

Recruitment processes were in place. We found staff competency checks, supervisions and appraisals had not been undertaken regularly in line with the provider's own policies and procedures. People’s medicines were not always administered by trained staff. We have made a recommendation about staff training and the safe management of medicines

People told us they received their care calls on time and staff stayed for the duration of the scheduled call time. However, people were not always notified if staff were running late.

Risks to people had been identified, assessed, and reviewed. However, for people who were prescribed anticoagulant medicine (to help prevent blood clots) there was no risk assessment or guidance for staff in the event of an incident or accident.

Staff knew how to keep people safe from harm. People told us they felt safe when staff were providing care. Staff had received training in Infection prevention control. Staff had access to personal protective equipment (PPE), and people and relatives told us staff wore their PPE when providing care and support.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 25 July 2018)

Why we inspected

We received concerns in relation to staffing, governance and change of location address. As a result, we undertook a focused inspection to review the key questions of safe and well-led only.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has changed from good to requires improvement based on the findings of this inspection.

We have found evidence the provider needs to make improvements. Please see the safe and well-led sections of this full report.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for WeCare Limited on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Enforcement

We have identified a breach in relation to good governance at this inspection. Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

We will request an action plan from the provider to understand what they will do to improve the standards of quality and safety. We will work alongside the provider and local authority to monitor progress. We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.